Wrangler

by Dani Wyatt

  “Go get your girl.” He taps Leander on the top of his head with the metal barrel, making him yelp. “I’ll keep this dog on a chain.” He chuckles as I try to catch my breath. “You gonna need a Band-Aid or something, brah. And now, we’re square. You saved my life, I saved yours.”

  Chapter Twenty Three

  CHAD

  Enrique slow clapped along with the rest of us as Sheriff Tucker pulled out of the farm driveway with Leander stuffed into the back of the patrol car.

  The EMS truck follows right behind, Rachel insisted the paramedics came to check me out, which they did. Some butterfly bandages, some cleaning up but I’ll live. I’m sure most rational people would have taken their free ride to the hospital, but around here, we’d rather bite down on a leather strap and gut it out. Leander’s knife was blunt as a butter knife, so it hurt like a mother fucker, but it didn’t go deep. The knife lefts cuts, nothing deep, so I’m staying right here. Leander’s not stealing anymore of my time from my girl.

  “So I imagine you going to take the day off tomorrow, huh? Make me do all the work?” My friend and work partner laughs as he walks backward toward his cabin.

  “No—” I start to reply but Rachel cuts me off.

  “Yes. He’s resting tomorrow.”

  I roll my eyes as she grips my waist tighter.

  I’ve got my dove tucked under my arm and as things stand right now, I’m not sure if I will ever let her out of this spot. She feels like she was made to be here, by my side.

  “Y’all makin’ my head spin,” Jessie chirps from beside us. She’s wrapped in a floral robe, her hands down in the pockets, fighting the smile that tickles at the corners of her lips despite all that’s just happened.

  The clouds have cleared and the silver shimmer of moonlight illuminates our faces. The breeze is just enough to throw Rachel's hair across her nose as she looks up at me.

  “Good night.” Enrique turns, stuffs his hands into the front pockets of his jeans and whistles as he walks the dirt path back to his cabin.

  I’m not sure how to say thank you in a sufficient manner to my new best friend, but I vow to figure out a way that will show him instead of tell him.

  “You best take it easy tonight.” Jessie nods toward me with a knowing twinkle in her blue eyes.

  “I’ll take care of him,” Rachel says.

  “I’m sure you will.” Jessie narrows her eyes and taps her cane on the ground then smacks her lips and continues. “No reason you need to be sneakin’ back in the house every morning either, Rachel. Y’all just stay out here. I’m old, but I’m not stupid.”

  I lean over to plant my lips on the top of her head, taking a deep draw through my nose. Her scent is rose petals, fresh air and a sweetness that defies definition.

  “And I’ll take care of you.” I tug her closer and step forward. I need her naked and under my tongue like I need my next breath.

  “Good night, you two.” Jessie shakes her head as she shuffles in her slippers toward the farmhouse, leaning on her cane.

  Rachel and I are in step all the way to the door of the cabin.

  “You okay with staying in here tonight?” I kiss her ear. If she’s not okay with being inside the cabin because of what happened earlier, I want to know.

  “Yes. I’m fine. This cabin reminds me of you, not him.”

  I pause us on the threshold, reaching down to wrap my arms around her waist and lift her against me.

  “Stop! You’re hurt.” Rachel locks her ankles behind my back and I feel the heat from her cunt on my bare stomach.

  “I’ll be a lot more hurt if you don’t let me tell you something.”

  “What?”

  “Remember that surprise I talked about?”

  “Yes. Seems like a thousand years ago.”

  “Close your eyes.”

  She complies with a shake of her head and I release one hand from her gorgeous ass to reach into my back pocket.

  While the Sheriff was taking care of his business with Leander and finishing up the statements from Rachel and Enrique, I slipped inside the cabin. I straightened up the knocked over chairs at the kitchen table, set everything back to neat and orderly and stuffed the surprise I had for her in my back pocket because the next time she crossed that threshold, I wanted her to know something.

  By the time I got back out to where they were standing, Rachel must have snuck inside the farm house. Her face is fresh and clean. Her tousled hair smoothed back and pressed behind her ears. She switched her jeans and button up shirt to that sweet blue skirt she wore the first night at crutches. She looks like an angel standing there. An angel God made just for me.

  Having her against me like this shoots my cock straight up, fighting like a wolverine trying to get himself deep between her legs, but I’ve got logistics to take care of first.

  So, I give her a little hip thrust, pushing her up higher so I can grasp her under her ass firmly with one hand. I turn and press her back against the outside of the cabin wall to the left of the door, gripping the small box in my fist and pressing my knuckles into the door jamb.

  I lean up and take her lips, my tongue delving into her mouth as she opens and kisses me back. It sends showers of desire over and through me like standing under a waterfall at sunrise.

  As we both moan into the kiss, a weight lifts off our shoulders and it seems the events of the night take flight on the breeze that blows through the small porch.

  “Mmmm.” I pull back, licking my lips. “You taste sweeter every time I kiss you, you know that?”

  “Kiss me again then.” Her smile lights up my heart but there is one nagging question bouncing around in my head. And I hate to ask, but I have to know.

  “Dove, I need you to be completely honest with me. I just need to know.” My eyes search her face and even in the darkness I see the question in her eyes.

  Then she nods her agreement.

  “Remember when I asked you if anyone had touched you before?”

  Another nod and my heart is in my throat.

  “I want you to know, I want to know everything about you. I wish I could read your mind because I want it all. I’m sorry for whatever I did or didn’t do that made you feel like you couldn’t tell me about Leander. Can you tell me now – did Leander touch you?”

  Her eyes turn from inquisitive to sad and I hate it, but I need to know.

  My lungs burn as I hold my breath, then she shakes her head.

  “He made me watch him touch himself.” She takes a deep breath and I squeeze her to me; my heart breaks knowing I couldn’t help her when she’d needed me. “He kissed me, made me show myself to him and he only touched my butt and under my shirt. I never let it go further, I was so scared, but thank God it stopped before that.”

  “I’m sorry I couldn’t help you back then. I wish I’d been there, I would have stopped him.”

  “It’s okay. Knowing he’s gone for good now, I feel almost free from it. It’s strange, you taught me how beautiful it can be and what he isn’t even remotely related to what we do. What we have. I feel like it’s just some old story someone read to me once and I realize now that it can’t hurt me anymore.” Her eyes don’t leave mine and I feel like she’s letting me look right into her soul. “I actually hope whatever dark part of him made him do those things can turn around. I don’t wish any harm on him. I just want to forget it all. Feel free, you know?”

  I do.

  My chest fills with a sense of pride and an overwhelming possessiveness. She’s as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside.

  “I’ll never let anyone hurt you again. What you need will always come before what I need. I’ll be your protector, your provider, your best friend, your biggest fan. And above all, I’ll love you no matter what. I mean that, no matter what.”

  She tightens her legs around my back in response and that’s clearer than any words she could have said.

  I breathe in so deep my lungs hurt, then I rest my forehead on her shoulder and sa
y a little prayer, the fingers of my hand pressed against the wood siding of the cabin, thumping with each heartbeat.

  “What’s wrong?”

  I shake my head, finish my prayer, say a silent amen and raise my eyes to hers. She settles her hands on my chest.

  “I didn’t know anything close to what I feel now before I met you. And I know I’ll never feel it again.”

  I let go of the wall, reach around and pinch the golden circle inside my pocket between my fingers.

  “What?”

  I bring it forward, the moonlight catching on the gemstones. “This ring is going on your finger, Rachel, so give me that hand.”

  My heart stops beating for the three seconds it takes her to respond by holding her shaking fingers out in the small space between us.

  “I’m not asking either. You understand why, don’t you?”

  I slide the ring over her knuckle.

  “Why?” Her question flutters around my head like the dove she is.

  “You’re already mine; this is just window dressing.”

  She giggles but I see her face light up, her eyes looking down at where the ring sits perfectly on her finger. “You can be a little arrogant, you know that, right?” Her words are in stark contrast to the sparkle in her eyes and the smile she doesn’t try to hide.

  “It’s not arrogance, Dove. It’s just the truth.”

  The door to the cabin is still open from when she’d entered earlier, and I spin us around, both hands back on her fine ass, watching her eyes sparkle as they look down at her hand.

  “It’s perfect.”

  “It was my grandmother’s, and then it was my mother’s. And now it’s yours and you’re mine.”

  My grandmother and grandfather left everything behind when they fled Poland during the war. The only thing they’d managed to hide of value was my grandmother’s wedding ring.

  It’s not a traditional engagement ring, but it fits my girl like a glove. The emerald sits up on her finger, glowing in the moonlight.

  “Is this real?”

  “Of course it’s real. You think I’d give you a fake?” I kiss her neck with a chuckle.

  “No.” She shakes her head. “Not the ring. Us. All of this.”

  I lift my face from her neck, take in the beauty of her wide eyes and walk us through the cabin door, kicking it shut behind.

  “It’s about to get a lot more real, Dove.”

  My lips are on her as I press her into the wall inside the cabin, knocking a picture off onto the floor.

  It’s tongues and teeth knocking together as I grind her cunt up and down on my naked abs. The only thing between us is the wisp of fabric between her legs, her skirt riding high around her hips and leaving her open. I make a mental note to break her of wearing panties at all, and instill in her a love of dresses and skirts, because from this moment forward, I need constant access to what belongs to me.

  When we break apart, her lips remain open and her breath is warm on my face. My fingertips dig into her ass hard enough I’m sure there will be bruises, but I need that. I need to see it.

  The harder I love her, the harder I need to fuck her, so I hope she’s as tough as I think she is.

  “I’m not that girl that needs a flashy ring.” The doubt in her voice cuts into me like a cold blade. “I’m nobody. This ring is like for royalty or someone famous; I’m just a country girl.”

  “Stop.” My teeth grind and my throat tightens. “You’re about to piss me the fuck off with that. Look at me.”

  I pinch her chin and jerk her head around harder than I intend to, and she lets out a tiny yelp.

  “You and I both know you don’t mean that shit. It’s been programmed into you. It comes out because you think on some level it’s what you are supposed to say. Like whenever I give you a compliment you diminish it. Fuck, that bullshit stops right now. Got it?”

  “How do you know you’re right all the time about what I’m thinking or what I need?”

  A noise like a grizzly debating his attack comes from deep in my chest. Not quite a rumble and not quite a growl but her eyes go wide and she understands the meaning.

  “Because every time you flutter an eyelash, every time you take a half breath instead of a whole breath, every time you look at the sky, your dimple makes my heart skip a beat, I memorize it. I store it away. I remember every nuance of you and what it all means. It’s my fucking job to know, Rachel, and I’ve been preparing my whole life for you. I didn’t know it before, but I do now. Tell me what I just said isn’t true? Do you truly believe you don’t deserve it, and not just because that’s what people have told you? That shit’s what you think you should say and it stops right now.”

  Her lips cock to the side as her eyes narrow but I don’t back down, I will win this fight because it’s what’s best for her. And I will win every fight from this day forward when that’s the case.

  “That’s annoying.” She rolls her eyes and bites her lip, and my dick is screaming for relief as it grows another inch in the confines of my jeans. “But yes, I suppose if I think about it, you’re right.”

  “Of course I’m right. So, let’s do this: You let me show you everything else I know you need tonight, and in the morning, when I have to carry you out of bed because you won’t be able to walk, you tell me again how I’m right.”

  I gather my arms around her waist, clutching her as tight against me as I can, rubbing her heat up and down, priming her for what is about to come.

  Chapter Twenty Four

  RACHEL

  Before I know it, he’s got me on the bed and his hands are everywhere, furiously ripping at the clothing that covers me.

  He even snarls, barely making eye contact as he works.

  Chad makes quick work of my clothes, my body jerking and twisting as the fabric of my blouse tangles around my shoulders and he pulls until it snaps free. My panties come off with a tear, catching on my boots, but they don’t last long either. Chad tugs them off like he’s fighting for his life. He flings them so hard, they hit the opposite wall and knock his baseball cap off the protruding hook.

  My heart is not just beating but pounding dangerously hard, the thundering beats feeling like a stampede inside my chest and it’s making it hard to breathe.

  The sight of him like this is thrilling. He’s on a mission and I doubt I could stop him now even if I tried. His eyes are slits, his lips slightly open. He’s so focused on the fury that seems to have engulfed him that his skin is flushed with sweat. A brush of a smile hits his lips when he flips me over, unclasps my bra with a snap and then flips me back up to face him. I’m at his mercy, like he’s roping a calf.

  His belt clinks and there’s a swoosh of denim as he races to free himself from every shred of fabric.

  The sight of him still makes me shiver and draw a shaking breath.

  His tongue comes out to lick his bottom lip as one of his hands drops down to stroke the magnificent length of his erection. He’s so confident, watching his hand move makes a river of my own arousal flood out of me, and I instinctively open my legs. His eyes drop down and lock onto my soaking opening.

  “God, Dove. That’s the most beautiful thing in the world. So beautiful when you offer yourself to me like that without being asked.” He strokes himself faster, his thumb swirling around the soaking tip, spreading the drops of clear liquid over the engorged helmet. His other hand comes up to cover his mouth, slips down to rub his chin as though he’s trying to steady himself.

  “I know you like to see.”

  I bite my lip, still feeling strange to be so vulnerable. Opening my body for him to see like this is still new, but from the look on his face I’ve just given him a gift and that makes me feel beautiful.

  “You ready for a ride, Dove? Because I’m thinking gentle is not possible tonight. It’s gonna hurt tomorrow. When you walk, I want you reminded every step you take of who was here.” His hand drops from his hard-on, down between my open thighs. The cool of the air tingles at th
e heat between my legs.

  My entire body jerks when his hand covers me, his fingertips clutching between my legs, taking a fistful of me like he is claiming something he nearly lost. Something he doesn’t intend to let go of.

  His lips are warm and soft, but unapologetic and rough as his tongue enters my mouth. The kiss is beautifully suffocating, taking what he wants. He’s aggressive and I melt under him. The way he kisses me, like he has every right to, sends ripples of throbbing need from the top of my head to the tips of my toes.

  The weight of the ring on my finger draws my mind. Everything is spinning, and the feelings he stirs inside me are raw and I pray for a split second that we can always feel like this.

  “I fucking love you, Rachel. And I think you’re fucking gorgeous. You’re mine forever and you’re never getting away. I swear on every bible in the state of Michigan, if you ever leave, I’ll find you, swing a lasso over you and drag you back. I hope you know I’d tear down mountains to make you happy Dove. It’s all that matters to me.”

  His fingers soften between my legs, discovering me, playing and touching like he could do this forever. His eyes are on mine, watching for my every reaction. I’m lost in his face, the flick of his tongue on his lower lip. The tightening of his jaw muscle and the way his brow comes together, so intense and completely present.

  He shifts his body upward, drawing my eyes to the way each of his muscles work under his skin. My hands caress his shoulders, feeling the movement of each hard line of his tendons. A golden flame burns inside my belly, consuming me with its heat.

  He moves his fingers lower, entering me slowly, searching my face for something he needs to know.

  “You have no idea how much I want you, Rachel.” He slowly glides two fingers inside me, holding them there until I think I’m going to fly apart. “How much I’ve wanted you from the moment I saw you that first night. I wanted to tear off your clothes off right there in the bar and fight for you in front of God and everyone. I wanted this...” I gasp as he shoves his fingers inside me until his knuckles stop him. “But I wanted to know. Know you. I need you to need me.”